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Five beaches set to fail new EU water quality tests

Monifieth Beach is one of those that will miss out on a good rating.
Monifieth Beach is one of those that will miss out on a good rating.

Much more stringent EU standards will see at least five Courier Country beaches miss out on good water quality ratings when they are published next year.

Experts at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) warned yesterday that 17 of Scotland’s 84 designated bathing waters are expected to be classed as “poor” following the summer season just gone due to tighter controls under a new Bathing Water Directive.

A further 12 will be rated as just “sufficient”, with 38 due to receive good ratings and 17 said to be excellent.

The Courier has learned that Stonehaven, Monifieth and Kinghorn Harbour beaches are likely to be rated “poor” when confirmed classifications are issued by the EU in the spring, while Leven and St Andrews East Sands are anticipated to be labelled as merely “sufficient”.

Calum McPhail, from Sepa’s environmental quality unit, said: “This is a milestone year for Scotland’s bathing waters with the introduction of the new classifications and while it’s disappointing to see that 17 bathing waters are predicted to be classed as ‘poor’ we are pleased to see so many performing well under the new stricter standards.

“Scottish bathing waters have been increasing in number and improving in quality since our regulation and monitoring of EU bathing waters compliance began in 1988.

“All bathing waters originally designated in 1988, and almost all those designated more recently, met water quality standards in 2014 which is a vast improvement from the first year of monitoring.

“Our challenge now is to build upon this progress and bring all of Scottish bathing waters up to, at least, the ‘sufficient’ standard under the new directive through further investment and infrastructure improvements along with managing pressures from rural and diffuse pollution.”

The 2015 bathing season lasted for 107 days, between June 1 and September 15, and Sepa which monitored the bathing waters around Scotland regularly will add its sampling results to figures obtained between 2012 to 2014 as part of the new ratings system.

Mr McPhail added: “Sepa currently provides daily water quality predictions at 23 beaches throughout Scotland, as well as via Sepa’s website, smartphone app and Beachline number. We are currently planning to extend this daily signage network to a small number of additional locations so that even more people can make informed decisions about whether to use the bathing waters.

“We will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and key partners to protect, manage and improve areas where water quality is at risk as we work towards bringing the bathing waters up to the new standards.”